If I Should Fall (Editing)

Epilogue

  The show must go on, Elizabeth thought as she walked down the aisle on her fathers' arm. The light sounds of harps could be heard playing underneath the striking cords of the violins, but she managed to tune it all out. She couldn't pay attention to the bright lights, over four hundred guests, the video camera's or the bursts of light from still cameras as she made her way towards the altar where her groom awaited.

It wasn't his presences that kept her unable to focus. With every step she took she could still hear Charlie's voice. "You once told me that we're soul mates." What did it matter? She thought, but as she walked the length of the white material covered with rose petals towards her destiny, she couldn't shake the feeling that it meant everything.

She couldn't explain the tightening in her chest, now only a few feet away and she looked down at her hand-made Calla Lilly bouquet afraid her warring emotions were broadcasting on her face. And finally she was there, her father handing her off to John with a brief peck on her cheek through her veil. She stood across from her soon-to-be husband and stared blankly as he recited after the priest, his wedding vows.

It felt as if her brain was short circuiting as she tried to make sense of her emotions. Had she truly spoken those words to Charlie? Why would she say something like that if it were just a phase? "Soul mates?" She heard herself saying as she came back to her surroundings. She looked around realizing that it was now her turn to recite her vows. The priest cleared his throat and started again, but she couldn't bring her self to repeat after him. She was frozen.

"Elizabeth?" John whispered worriedly as she simply stood there.

"You can't do it, can you?" Charlie asked as she approached thee altar from the side having decided she wasn't giving up just yet. She had hidden in the priests' office after she left Elizabeth. It was sheer luck that the route Lucinda planned for her to get out ran passed the room and the religious leader was already on his way down the hall to perform the ceremony.

Security snapped into action, swiftly making their way down the aisles, cameras following their every move. Charlie stopped a few feet away from the soon to be wed couple.

"Hold her. Call the police!" John bellowed as murmurs began to ripple through the crowd. "You're violating the restraining order and I'll make sure you rot for it."

"What restraining order? Don't touch her!" Elizabeth yelled at the guards as they stopped mere feet from Charlie. "I told you to leave." She looked at Charlie in disbelief. The last thing she wanted was for something to happen to her.

"You knew she was here?" John gave her a look of disbelief.

Elizabeth spared him a quick annoyed glance before she returned her attention to Charlie. "Why did you come back?"

"Because I love you." Charlie told her earnestly.

Elizabeth felt every pulse of her heart as the blood rushed through her veins. She felt as if her head should be the size of a watermelon, the pressure was that intense. It seemed to be originating between her eyes and spreading, consuming. "I asked you not to do this."

"You've asked me a lot of things." Charlie shrugged. "But I've always told you that I wasn't going any where and I meant it. So if this is what you want, then I'll support you. I want to see him do what I couldn't do." Charlie's throat was tight as she tried once again to reign in her emotions.

"What's that?" Elizabeth heard herself ask over the roaring in her ears.

"Make you happy, of course. I want you to have a good life and if this is where you think you'll find that then fine. I'm not here to stand in the way."